TweetAlberta’s Progressive Conservative MLAs are kicking off another year of international travel as Premier Alison Redford, cabinet ministers and backbenchers check their luggage and rack up the air mile points with flights touching down at all points across the globe. Departing on January 9, Ms. Redford will circle the globe
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daveberta.ca - Alberta politics: Alberta politics 2013: Redford abandons her progressive coalition
Tweet“Not your father’s PC Party” was a key message the Progressive Conservatives directed at urban liberal and progressive voters in the 2012 election. The message was received and helped drive many non-traditional PC voters into becoming part the new electoral coalition that re-elected Ms. Redford’s party, and, in turn, blocked
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: Alberta politics 2013: Redford abandons her progressive coalition
Tweet“Not your father’s PC Party” was a key message the Progressive Conservatives directed at urban liberal and progressive voters in the 2012 election. The message was received and helped drive many non-traditional PC voters into becoming part the new electoral coalition that re-elected Ms. Redford’s party, and, in turn, blocked
Continue readingAlberta Diary: The little government that grew: Alison Redford shuffles deckchairs on her cabinet
After her change of heart, Alberta Premier Ebenezer Redford, top left, accompanied by Speaker Gene Zwozdesky in his ceremonial robes, watches as some of the members of her cabinet sit down for an unexpected dinner of Christmas turkey. Actual Alberta Progressive Conservative movers and shakers may not appear exactly as
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: Redford’s Christmas cabinet shuffle
TweetAs reported yesterday on this blog, rumours that Ms. Redford would shuffle her cabinet before the Christmas break began to intensify this week. Today, those rumours proved to be true. Built around the government’s “Building Alberta” slogan, today’s Government of Alberta press release boasts a new cabinet that will focus on
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: A Christmas cabinet shuffle in Alberta?
TweetWith the Legislative Assembly’s fall sitting coming to an end, can some Progressive Conservative MLAs expect an early Christmas present from their leader, Premier Alison Redford? Nearly half-way through the PC Party’s twelfth term in office and fresh from a leadership review victory, it is expected that Ms. Redford could choose
Continue readingAlberta Diary: If the deputy premier wants free speech for Ukraine so badly, why is he attacking it in Alberta?
Alberta Deputy Premier Thomas Lukaszuk in the Rotunda of the Alberta Legislature. Note, in the background at left, Wildrose Opposition Leader Danielle Smith. Below, a recent Twitter message from Mr. Lukaszuk, an inveterate and confrontational Tweeter, who thinks your free speech rights are a matter of LOL and #wink. Last
Continue readingAlberta Diary: A serious question for Albertans: Is the Redford Government out of control?
Whose House is it? In Alberta, not yours! Public service union members tried to enter the Alberta Legislature yesterday to protest Bills 45 and 46, and soon found the doors barred. Below: Some more of the 400 or so people who braved the coldest spot in Edmonton for an impromptu
Continue readingAlberta Diary: No surprise, Alberta PCs endorse Alison Redford with the traditional 77% Solution
A couple of political pundits try to explain to Alberta Premier Alison Redford, centre, why the 77 Per Cent Solution may not be a good thing after all. Actual Alberta premiers may not appear exactly as illustrated. Note that the previous reference has nothing to do with illegal drugs or
Continue readingAlberta Diary: 70%? 66.9%? 55.9%? 50%+1 good enough for Alison Redford this evocative weekend
Alison Redford, ready for her endorsement vote tomorrow, as rendered by Edmonton artist William Prettie. Below: former Canadian prime minister Joe Clark, late U.S. president John F. Kennedy, both of whom figure in this blog post about Alberta politics for some reason. Was it insularity and tone deafness, or Machiavellian
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: FAQ: Alison Redford faces PC Party leadership review
TweetHundreds of supporters of the long-governing Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta will gather in Red Deer on November 22 and 23, 2013 to attend to the business of their annual general meeting and conduct a review of Premier Alison Redford leadership. Why does a leader who nineteen months ago led
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: Nomination races begin for federal election 2015
TweetThere are 705 days until Monday, October 19, 2015, when the next Canadian federal election is scheduled to be held. With less than two years until Canadians choose who will serve as Members of Parliament and with new electoral boundaries coming into effect at the next election, candidates across Alberta
Continue readingAlberta Diary: U of A counters Redford Government whims by skimming institutes’ donations
Why send guys like these when you can just skim the cash right off the top? Actual employees of the University of Alberta Accounting department may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: U of A President Indira Samarasekera. Well, I don’t suppose you can accuse the University of Alberta of
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: Lukaszuk, Griffiths are prime targets for opposition parties
TweetDeputy Premier Thomas Lukaszuk allegedly threatened to fight Official Opposition leader Danielle Smith during a heated Question Period on the afternoon of November 5. Observers say that Mr. Lukaszuk made a threatening gesture to the opposition leader to “bring it on” after responding to criticism about a ruling from the Office of
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: Hope and Debt
TweetThe political battle between the Wildrose opposition and long-governing Progressive Conservatives continued today as the Legislative Assembly resumed for the fall sitting. Debt was the biggest issue of the day. Wildrose leader Danielle Smith jumped at the opportunity to make light of comments Premier Alison Redford made that compared the government’s
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: Wildrose can grow from Tory seeds of doubt
TweetDo you drain a Lake of Fire or do you dam it? Whatever it takes, Wildrose Party activists are expected to moderate the tone of their policies at their weekend policy convention in the booming central Alberta city of Red Deer. A delicate and sometimes shaky coalition of libertarians and
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: Mason vs Smith: Wildrose and NDP leaders on province-wide debate tour
TweetThree years before the next provincial election, a public debate tour might not be where you would expect to find the leaders of two political parties. Breaking convention, Wildrose Party leader Danielle Smith and Alberta NDP leader Brian Mason are joining forces to bring provincial politics to college and university
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: Redford shines in flood aftermath, but political problems not washed away
TweetThe day to day melee of provincial politics in Alberta was thrown out the window two weeks ago as rising rivers flooded communities in southern Alberta and forced the evacuation of more than 100,000 Albertans from low-lying Calgary neighbourhoods and surrounding communities. Caring, compassionate, and pro-active, Premier Alison Redford has been
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Sic Twansit Gloria: your blogger, elevated to Alberta’s Twitterati … for the moment, anyway
A typical member of the Alberta Twitterati, pretty much any time of year except yesterday. Your blogger and other renowned Wild Rose Country Twittarians may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: Daveberta author Dave Cournoyer, apparently Tweeting. I may not be on Alberta Venture magazine’s list of the 50 most
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Journalists found guilty of ethical breaches really shouldn’t lecture on journalistic ethics
People who live in glass houses next door to used car lots shouldn’t … Below: Globe and Mail columnist Margaret Wente, the Globe’s disclaimer. S’cuse me! We ex-journalists are permitted to do whatever we like! And if Prime Minister Thomas Mulcair wants to appoint me to the Senate, I’m taking
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